Arts world warning on English baccalaureate

21 November 2012

Leading figures in the arts world have warned that Britain's creative economy could be destroyed "within a generation" because of the decision to leave arts subjects out of the English baccalaureate (EBacc).

The Department for Education consultation into the EBacc closes on Monday 10 December so time is of the essence to show the level of real concern about the government’s EBacc proposals.

Speaking to the Guardian Sir Richard Eyre (left), Sir Nicholas Hytner, Sir Nicholas Serota, Julian Lloyd Webber, Richard Rogers, Sir David Hare and Grayson Perry and others said they are deeply worried about the impact of excluding creative subjects from the core qualification at 16. There are fears that many schools, particularly state schools, will marginalise arts subjects if they do not count towards the Ebacc, the new GCSE performance measure.

The film and theatre director Sir Richard Eyre called the lack of arts on the Ebacc "incredibly shortsighted" while the playwright Sir David Hare condemned the policy as "the most dangerous and far-reaching of the government's reforms".